Yemeni girl's speech against child marriage goes viral

A video of an 11-year-old Yemeni girl's account of escaping her arranged marriage has gone viral. In the 3-minute clip, Nada al-Ahdal says she would rather die than get married at her age and calls the potential marriage "criminal."

According to a report in NOW Lebanon, Nada fled to her uncle when her parents agreed to marry her to a Yemeni expatriate living in Saudi Arabia.

A version of the video with English captions received more than 5.6 million views in two days.

Another local report states that Nada will be living with her uncle, who has assumed full financial responsibility for her.

Though the story was reported by several Arab outlets, some focused on the organisation that uploaded the English version of Nada's video, The Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI). Based in the US and founded by a former Israeli intelligence officer, MEMRI has been criticised for selectively translating Arabic broadcasts and providing a consistently negative portrayal of Muslim countries.

Brought to you by <a href="http://www.memri.org/" class="">MEMRI</a>, a privatly-funded pro Israeli/Military "research institute" that loves to smear the Arab world.Th3FashionP0lice

Taking back that Yemeni girl video bc apparently is a propaganda by an ex-mil Israeli and MEMRI hasn't translated properlyAfreeen Siddiqui

In the video, Nada mentions other children who are put in the same situation: "I managed to solve my problem, but some innocent children can't solve theirs, and they might die, commit suicide, or do whatever comes to mind... I'm not the only one. There are many cases like that."

The Stream recently examined the practice of child marriage around the world. Check out our full episode: